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Did something very stupid. Need help recovering files.

Scruffy90
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Hope I posted this in the correct section.

 

Long story short. A few months ago I used an external HDD(which I thought had nothing on it) to back up my surveillance, which ended up reformatting my drive (didn't notice the prompt) someone pulled it out during the formatting, so I lost all the files on that drive.

 

Is there some hope that I could recover some of the files that are on that drive. Which programs would you recommend?

 

The only files I want to recover at .TIFF, .NEF,.CR2 (which I think some software has trouble recovering), and .JPEG

 

Everything else I could care less about.

 

** the drive has not be pluged back in or used since that day and has been sitting in an enclosure on my desk for the past few months.

Windows 10 Edu | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | Ryzen 9 3950x | 4x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB| ROG Strix GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ Advanced edition | Samsung 980 PRO 500GB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB + 8TB Seagate Barracuda | EVGA Supernova 650 G2 | Alienware AW3418DW + LG 34uc87c + Dell u3419w | Asus Zephyrus G14

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Posted

Hope I posted this in the correct section.

 

Long story short. A few months ago I used an external HDD(which I thought had nothing on it) to back up my surveillance, which ended up reformatting my drive (didn't notice the prompt) someone pulled it out during the formatting, so I lost all the files on that drive.

 

Is there some hope that I could recover some of the files that are on that drive. Which programs would you recommend?

 

The only files I want to recover at .TIFF, .NEF,.CR2 (which I think some software has trouble recovering), and .JPEG

 

Everything else I could care less about.

 

** the drive has not be pluged back in or used since that day and has been sitting in an enclosure on my desk for the past few months.

do you know if you did a quick format or a regular one? 

(a quick format will only erase the file table)

I recommend TestDisk if you did a quick one. 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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I would recommend a program such as Recuva, you might need to do a deep scan if you dont find the files with the standard scan. Although I've never used it in the case of formatting, I have used it myself and for customers multiple times, with great success.

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do you know if you did a quick format or a regular one? 

(a quick format will only erase the file table)

I recommend TestDisk if you did a quick one. 

I'm under the assumption that the DVR for the surveillance unit did a quick one because it was progressing rather quickly on a drive that was almost full.

Windows 10 Edu | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | Ryzen 9 3950x | 4x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB| ROG Strix GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ Advanced edition | Samsung 980 PRO 500GB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB + 8TB Seagate Barracuda | EVGA Supernova 650 G2 | Alienware AW3418DW + LG 34uc87c + Dell u3419w | Asus Zephyrus G14

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Give Recuva a shot.

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

 

I would recommend a program such as Recuva, you might need to do a deep scan if you dont find the files with the standard scan. Although I've never used it in the case of formatting, I have used it myself and for customers multiple times, with great success.

 

I'm going to give Recuva a shot. I have had success with other Piriform software. Do you know how long a standard scan would take for a 500gb file?

Windows 10 Edu | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | Ryzen 9 3950x | 4x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB| ROG Strix GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ Advanced edition | Samsung 980 PRO 500GB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB + 8TB Seagate Barracuda | EVGA Supernova 650 G2 | Alienware AW3418DW + LG 34uc87c + Dell u3419w | Asus Zephyrus G14

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Usually not long at all, minutes. (depending on file size, fragmentation, etc)

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I would use TestDisk. It's saved my butt more than once...

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Usually not long at all, minutes. (depending on file size, fragmentation, etc)

 

 

I would use TestDisk. It's saved my butt more than once...

I'm going to give them both a shot and see how many files I could recover. All I really want to recover are those specific file extensions (they're RAW photos). Is there any way to designate which file types to dig for, or am I limited to it recovering everything?

Windows 10 Edu | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | Ryzen 9 3950x | 4x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB| ROG Strix GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ Advanced edition | Samsung 980 PRO 500GB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB + 8TB Seagate Barracuda | EVGA Supernova 650 G2 | Alienware AW3418DW + LG 34uc87c + Dell u3419w | Asus Zephyrus G14

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I am unfamiliar with TestDisk - Recuva will allow you to specify locations and file types if needed.  Just PLEASE remember, whatever program you're using...dont install or restore files onto that 500gb hdd. Use an alternate drive to restore the files.(Dont take offense, it happens.)

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I'm going to give them both a shot and see how many files I could recover. All I really want to recover are those specific file extensions (they're RAW photos). Is there any way to designate which file types to dig for, or am I limited to it recovering everything?

TeskDisk is pretty powerful. I'm sure there is a way to do that, but to be honest, I don't know how.

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I'm going to give Recuva a shot. I have had success with other Piriform software. Do you know how long a standard scan would take for a 500gb file?

ca. 40 minutes

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I am unfamiliar with TestDisk - Recuva will allow you to specify locations and file types if needed.  Just PLEASE remember, whatever program you're using...dont install or restore files onto that 500gb hdd. Use an alternate drive to restore the files.(Dont take offense, it happens.)

No offense taken :). It's because of that, that the drive hasn't been plugged in since the entire incident happened.

Windows 10 Edu | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | Ryzen 9 3950x | 4x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB| ROG Strix GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ Advanced edition | Samsung 980 PRO 500GB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB + 8TB Seagate Barracuda | EVGA Supernova 650 G2 | Alienware AW3418DW + LG 34uc87c + Dell u3419w | Asus Zephyrus G14

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